The present invention generally relates to a sanitary napkin or a sanitary pad for absorbing and retaining menses, more particularly to a sanitary napkin having wing portions which encircle the crotch portion of an undergarment for attaching the napkin thereto.
There exist different types of sanitary napkin constructions in the prior art. One type of construction has a liquid permeable topsheet, a liquid impermeable backsheet and an absorbent core interposed between the topsheet and the backsheet. The backsheet and the topsheet co-extend outwardly from each side edge of a longitudinal middle portion of the absorbent core to form wing portions. When a sanitary napkin of such construction is put into use, each of the wing portions is folded outwardly toward the back face of an undergarment crotch portion, and is attached thereto by means of adhesives applied onto the back face of the wing portions. This type of construction therefore is advantageously effective in attaching the sanitary napkin firmly to the undergarment crotch portion.
Another type of construction has a side barrier which extends longitudinally along each side of a sanitary napkin. The side barrier has an elastic member so that the side barrier is spaced away or stands upwardly from the top surface of the sanitary napkin as the elastic member elastically contracts. The side barrier is advantageously effective in preventing side leakage of body fluid.
However, no prior art has or discloses a construction which incorporates both of the features as described above. Accordingly, conventional sanitary napkin constructions fail to effectively prevent side leakage of body fluid or to firmly attach the sanitary napkin to the undergarment crotch portion.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a sanitary napkin which incorporates the advantageous features that each of the former and latter napkin constructions individually has.